Trust
by Dragoon Swordsman
Summary: Another SV AU oneshot, this one depicting the scene where Lyon reveals her past with Nether Gate. Rated as a precaution.


I own none of this.

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The room was certainly a far cry from their accommodations in Lunas. It was, in fact, luxurious to the point of being decadent, as befitted a guest room in Barows Mansion. Salum Barows had a taste for the finer things in life, and to his credit he extended that to his guests. Of course, it was seldom out of the goodness of his heart.

Regardless of Lord Barows' reasons, to Freyjadour Falenas it was almost like home. Almost.

"If you need anything, please let me know," Salum's daughter, Luserina, said. She bowed and left the room.

Frey shook his head in wonder. "How could a nice girl like her be related to that old snake?" In the presence of family -Georg was family by adoption owing to his close friendship with the late Commander Ferid- he didn't bother to hide his disgust for the corpulent nobleman.

"Amazing, isn't it?" his aunt, Sialeeds, agreed. "Hard as it is to believe, though, they really are related."

Georg turned towards the window, his brown cape swirling around him. "How can someone as shady as Lord Barows…" He didn't complete the thought.

"We should really be grateful to Lord Barows," Sialeeds said, leaning back in an overstuffed armchair. "I don't trust him either, but he's giving us a chance to rest, and we all need that right now."

Lyon, by contrast, was visibly tense. "I don't think we can relax just yet," she said in a low voice. "I understand that Nether Gate is now working for Lord Godwin. You never know when or where those guys will strike."

Sialeeds frowned slightly. "Lyon, don't you think you're being just a little bit paranoid?"

The dark-haired bodyguard shook her head firmly. "No, I know what I'm talking about. I was once…" She braced herself. "I was once a member of Nether Gate, too!"

Georg spun around, his one eye going wide. "You were what!?"

"That's impossible!" Sialeeds protested, horrified. "When Ferid took you in, you were even younger than Lym is now! How is it possible that you could have been a member of Nether Gate!?"

Lyon looked away. "Nether Gate used to kidnap children who didn't have any family and train them to be assassins." It was clearly difficult for her, but she kept going. "Day after day, all we ever learned about was how to hurt people. In two more years, they would have made me a fully fledged assassin. I would've been a murderer by now!" Tears ran down her cheeks. "But before that could happen, Ferid rescued me."

"How awful," Sialeeds said softly.

Frey had gone rigid, staring at Lyon in shock. Now the feeling began to wear off, and things started to click in his mind. The amazing skill she'd shown with a blade even early on was in retrospect clearly a relic of her Nether Gate training. Same for her initial reticence; she simply hadn't known how to behave around other people.

Then things had changed. Normally quiet and reserved, Frey had gotten past Lyon's defenses without even trying. Within a year their relationship had progressed far beyond that of royal prince and faithful bodyguard, a change both of Frey's parents had encouraged.

Frey clenched his fists, suddenly filled with a desire to hunt down and kill the scum who had stolen Lyon's childhood. It was an impotent rage; he knew that with the breakup of the old organization those responsible were almost certainly already dead.

_I'll have to settle for Dolph and Childerich,_ he thought, reigning in his temper. His hands relaxed. _But Lyon, she is who she is. I don't care if she used to be with Nether Gate._

"Prince…Frey," Lyon said. "I'm sorry I never told you." She hesitated, swallowing. "Do you think you can still trust me, now that you know about my past?" She looked terrified of his response.

Frey gazed into her eyes, a darker shade of blue than his own. Memories of their times together flashed before his eyes, walking in the Sun Palace gardens, watching the sunset from the docks at Sol-Falena, sneaking off to explore the forest outside Lordlake, only to be caught by their escorts. At that moment, he wanted more than anything to allay her fears.

"Of course I do," he said gently, smiling. "My father personally chose you as my bodyguard; if I stopped trusting you, I'd be dishonoring his memory. Besides," his smile widened, "you're more than just a bodyguard to me. You're also my best friend, and I wouldn't give that up for anything."

A huge smile broke over Lyon's face. "Frey…thank you. Oh, thank you so much!" She was crying again, this time with joy.

Frey pulled her into an embrace. "It's the least I could do, after everything you've done for me."

Lyon hugged him back, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Her fear of Frey's reaction if he ever found out about her past had been the one flaw in her new life. Now that it was done, she felt like she could face anything.

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Author's note: This is one of the most emotional scenes I have ever seen in a video game, save for a couple of death scenes (Aeris in FFVII comes to mind). I hope I captured the effect properly.

As noted in my previous one-shot, I feel it appropriate that Lyon would call the Prince by name in private, since their relationship is clearly far more than royal prince/faithful bodyguard.


End file.
